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KQED's pop culture blogMon, 02 Mar 2015 21:20:35 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Bill Cosby: Loving the Art, Hating the Artisthttp://ww2.kqed.org/pop/bill-cosby-loving-the-art-hating-the-artist-the-cosby-show
http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/bill-cosby-loving-the-art-hating-the-artist-the-cosby-show#commentsMon, 15 Dec 2014 19:51:46 +0000http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/?p=14359William Cosby, Jr., was born in 1937 in Philadelphia. He came to national prominence in the 1960s as a stand-up comedian and television star, and, in the 1970s, he created the animated Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and finished a graduate program and a doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In the 1980s, The Cosby Show made him America’s dad and it’s one of a handful of sitcoms that not only define the era, but can stand the test of time. The Cosby Show is still really good, gang.

So what do you do when the artist who made The Cosby Show stands accused of more than 20 instances of sexual assault, incidents that go back as early as the 1960s, when Cosby was a renowned stand-up and winning three Emmys in a row for I Spy, the first network series to feature an African-American lead? More than 20 allegations that, according to the Washington Post this November, “are strung together by perceptible patterns that appear and reappear with remarkable consistency: mostly young, white women without family nearby; drugs offered as palliatives; resistance and pursuit; accusers worrying that no one would believe them; lifelong trauma”?

Sit down, Huxtables. We have to talk.

The allegations against Bill Cosby are not new. They are consistent and have been public knowledge since the early 2000s. All of these women have come forward with specific details regarding their encounters with Cosby, and all of them have used their real names. It’s true that innocent until proven guilty is a bedrock of our justice system (and, as an avid Seriallistener who binged on the Paradise Lost trilogy over Thanksgiving, I feel especially leery of passing judgment just because something “feels right”), but it’s also true that our culture tends to disregard, ridicule, and disbelieve allegations of rape and sexual assault.

We’ll never know what really happened became a common refrain earlier this year when allegations against Woody Allen returned to public conversation. Roxanne Gay wrote about the culture of compartmentalization that occurs in cases like this — when an artist and their art are scrutinized after accusations of monstrous crimes — and said, “I know I would rather stand where I stand and eventually be proven wrong than support Woody Allen and eventually be proven wrong.”

I can’t see a Woody Allen movie without thinking about the letter Dylan Farrow wrote in February about the abuse and trauma her father inflicted on her. But I never liked Annie Hall to begin with, so it wasn’t a beloved piece of art that had to be thrown on the fire.

But I love the Cosby Show. I loved it as a kid, when I was roughly the same age as Rudy. I love it as a grown-up when the marriage of Cliff and Clair Huxtable is an aspirational example of two fully-formed, independent professionals who love each other and work together as partners and parents. The Huxtables are a fictional family, sure, but since when does fictional mean we can’t aspire to it?

That’s why the idea of Bill Cosby as a rapist is hard to deal with. The Huxtables — Cliff and Clair especially — were willfully and explicitly role models, to African-American families and to every American family. Cliff’s relationship with his wife is the gravitational center of the Cosby Show.

A society’s — or a television fan’s — discomfort and disappointment when Bill Cosby the artist lets them down is nowhere near equal to the decades-long trauma and pain experienced by any of the women who were assaulted, violated, and bullied into silence by Bill Cosby the man. But it’s the legacy of that artist that protects the man. No one wants to live in a world where Bill Cosby does this. Where he gets away with it for almost 50 years.

These accusations have been public knowledge for nearly a decade, but we’ve continued to give Cliff Huxtable preference over actual women who were betrayed and assaulted.

I have a dear friend who grew up on the East Coast, and therefore loves Bruce Springsteen (spoiler alert — this is not a story revealing Bruce Springsteen as a monster). She remembers being 13 and going to a Springsteen concert, in the front row, and wearing her most-scandalous-at-thirteen outfit, hoping the Boss would notice her. Now, as an adult, she thinks about how terrible it would have been if Springsteen had noticed her. How terrible it would have been if he had even done a double-take in her general direction. He was a rock star, an idol, an icon — he was an artist she loved and admired. And if he’d noticed her thirteen-year-old self, with even the smallest ounce of inappropriate leering? All of that would have been broken.

Artists are people. Sometimes they’re good people and they make bad art. Sometimes they’re terrible people and they make one of the seminal television shows of the 20th century. It doesn’t make them above reproach, and it doesn’t mean we can turn away from the people they hurt and the lives they ruin. When faced with fantastically selfish and criminal behavior, it’s important and necessary that we be willing to look the devil in the eye and say, I see you.

Cosby hasn’t said much in public about the accusations levied against him. As reported in the Washington Post, Cosby’s attorney called the allegations ridiculous and Cosby himself said, “I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos. People should fact-check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos.” In 2006, Cosby reached an “undisclosed settlement” with Andrea Constand, who accused Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 2004.

Settlements aren’t an admission of guilt. They can be the best option for someone who thinks the odds are against them in a court of law or the court of public opinion, regardless of the truth. In that court of public opinion, not many people who know Cosby are coming to his defense. The Post quotes two allies who do their best. Weldon Latham, an attorney and friend of Cosby, says, “What you’re hearing is clearly not the entire truth, and how much of it is true, you have no idea.” Virginia Ali, the owner of a restaurant where Cosby sometimes eats, said, “I’ve always found him a very kind, generous person.” That’s the most anyone seems able to do.

Looking squarely at these accusations might make our relationship with Bill Cosby and his art more complicated, but it doesn’t destroy it. And I really can’t put it in any better than Michael Che on SNL’s Weekend Update:

“I may never forgive Bill Cosby, but hopefully someday I can forgive Dr. Huxtable.”

Bob Saget is most widely known as the father of the Olsen twins on Full House, which along with America’s Funniest Home Videos are my earliest memories of TV, entertainment, and even consciousness. And they were some great memories for Saget, who still remembers filming the show’s opening credits in San Francisco, which the fictional Tanner family called home. “They had me actually driving the convertible across the Golden Gate Bridge with the entire real Full House family in it, and they had a helicopter flying overhead to film it.” Saget explains this is unusual for the opening credits of an unproven sitcom, but is thankful for the production effort, as it became the signature shot of the show, forever linking Saget to the city he calls “the prettiest, coolest, backdrop that exists, honestly.”

It’s odd that someone who’s not from San Francisco and has never lived here is so synonymous with the city. Recently when Saget was in town for a show, he drove by the Victorian that served as the exterior for the Tanner family’s home in Full House and tweeted a selfie of himself in front of it. The picture exploded on Twitter and it endlessly amused Saget that people would be so excited to see him pose in front of the San Francisco landmark. When I told him that tour buses were recently banned from driving past the Painted Ladies (a.k.a. where the Tanners picnic during the credits), mostly due to Full House tourism, he laughed saying, “I know, I know, I screwed it up.”

Saget is quickly approaching sixty, but has a generation-spanning fan base that grows with him. Though I was a fan of his family friendly programming growing up, I never watched Full House or America’s Funniest Home Videos in adulthood. I didn’t have much interest. What made the man relevant in my life again, and turned me into a fan, was when I went to see the notoriously acerbic Paul Mooney do stand up at Carolines on Broadway in New York City. Shortly before Mooney came out, Saget stopped in to do 10 to 15 minutes of dirty, stream-of-consciousness material. It was fascinating to see the TV family man of my childhood on the same bill as Mooney and be as funny, but also as dirty.

The duality of his existence as both Danny Tanner and blue-comedian is the framework of Saget’s latest book Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian. And when I got on the phone to talk with him about his life and the book, it all crystalized: Bob Saget is a normal guy. He’s the foul-mouthed father who watches football and plays poker with his buddies, then comes home to his children and helps them with their homework. I’m not actually sure he’s done any of those things in his life, but that’s the sentiment.

When I spoke to him, he had just come home from Dave Coulier’s wedding in Montana. He took his daughters and longtime pal, John Stamos, along with him. On their way back, Saget flew to LA, but his daughters and Stamos got caught in a storm at O’Hare airport. During the layover, his daughters ran across the airport to catch a flight, coincidentally behind Stamos. Saget is enthused re-telling this story. “So let me get this straight,” he recounts with a laugh telling his daughters, “it looked like you guys were chasing John Stamos through an airport like he was the Beatles?” The power of John Stamos.

Saget is a real comedian. He put in his time with Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, and comedians of that ilk. Back in the 1980s, when the comedy scene was raging, Saget frequently performed in San Francisco. He performed at the opening and closing of the old Cobb’s Comedy Club, and then opening night at the current location. He worked regularly with fellow San Francisco comedians Robin Williams and Bobby Slayton. And, after late night sets, loved to visit the now defunct Sam Wo’s to be insulted by the infamous Edsel Ford Fung. “You’re not funny,” the Ornery Fung would hurl, “you stink.”

The first people to read Saget’s book were his daughters. They gave it the OK. One of the next people was his dying mother. She stopped right before chapter 8 titled, “Things I Shoudn’t Have Done.” She didn’t understand the chapter title. “Bobby, you were so perfect, please,” his mother said. He tells me that one time he told his mother that he was in no way better than Jesus. Her reply? “You’re better than Jesus.” Maybe he didn’t realize Stamos was over his shoulder.

Comedian Joan Rivers died today, ABC News reports. Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, released this statement: “It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17pm surrounded by family and close friends…Cooper and I have found ourselves humbled by the outpouring of love, support, and prayers we have received from around the world. They have been heard and appreciated. My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon.”

The easiest way to fulfill that final wish is to revisit some of Joan’s work:

While Kanye West has compared himself to everyone from Jesus to Walt Disney to Beethoven, he still doesn’t have the one thing these local San Francisco celebrities have: a statue, location, or plaque that pays tribute to their legends. (Ironically, his wife, Kim Kardashian, does have a statue commemorated in her honor.) Long before people worried about keeping Portland weird, San Francisco was already home to the eccentric, the colorful, and the creative. These are the stories of some truly original Californians — from the first child star of the Gold Rush, to the originator of the term “sugar daddy”, to the self-proclaimed Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, who was humored by all who met him in the streets.

Charlotte Mignon Crabtree isn’t a name most people know today, but, long before the child star Shirley Temple stole America’s heart, there was a girl known as “The Nation’s Darling.” Lotta’s parents moved to California during the Gold Rush hoping to strike it rich. After a few years, her father, a former bookseller, established a boarding house in Grass Valley, down the road from infamous actress and Countess of Landsfeldt, Lola Montez. Lotta’s mother, a former upholsterer, was friendly with many theater people in San Francisco and encouraged her daughter to take lessons from Lola. Soon, the family moved back to San Francisco and little six-year-old Lotta began performing to sold-out shows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. By 1859, “Miss Lotta, the San Francisco Favorite” was strumming her banjo in some of the city’s most popular halls. Then, until she retired in 1889 at the age of 45, the diminutive Lotta toured the country and abroad with her stage-manager mother, acting in popular theatre productions in between her shows (she often played a child’s role due to her size).

The quirky woman took to smoking thinly-rolled black cigars and never quite fit in with the East Coast socialites. Her heart, however, was large, and when her steamer trunk filled with gold (her mother distrusted banks and paper money), the richest actress in America often gave to local charities.

She never forgot San Francisco though. In 1875, Lotta commissioned the famous cast-iron “Lotta’s Fountain,” which served as a meeting point during the 1906 earthquake and resulting fires. In 1910, legendary opera soprano Luisa Tetrazzini sang at the fountain on Christmas Eve because, although she had legal troubles preventing her performances, she could still sing here (“I know the streets of San Francisco are free”). Lotta’s final public appearance was in her beloved city in 1915 for “Lotta Crabtree Day” at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, where it seemed like all of San Francisco turned out to remember their star. Lotta Crabtree died in 1924.

Joshua Norton, the man who declared himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, is a curious figure in San Francisco lore. An Englishman by birth, the orphaned Norton was lured to the California Gold Rush in 1849 with his father’s estate (about $40,000) burning a hole in his pocket. While Norton first was a model of success in real estate and merchant investments in the bustling San Francisco community, by the end of the 1850s, thanks to a poor investment in Chinese rice exports and a string of bad luck, Norton was nearly penniless.

Norton was frustrated with the Civil War and was heard to casually remark to a friend during that decade, “If I were Emperor of the United States, you would see great changes effected, and everything would go harmoniously.” So he decided to do just that — the September 17, 1859 edition of the San Francisco Bulletin published his first declaration as Emperor. From there, a phenomenon was born as Norton began to advocate for many different ideas, including abolishing the United States. Rival newspapers made up their own proclamations to compete, stores and restaurants vied for Norton’s endorsements for free publicity, and writers like Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) and Robert Louis Stevenson immortalized him in their stories.

While Norton was occasionally prescient — he advised creating a League of Nations and building a bridge between Oakland and San Francisco — he often attracted attention because of his larger-than-life personality. Norton rode the cable cars with his pack of dogs and dined for free in some of the best restaurants of San Francisco wearing an elaborate blue uniform given to him by officers at the Presidio with a beaver hat decorated with a peacock feather and a rosette. While some believed him insane, Norton’s death in 1880 merited a front-page obituary and many of San Francisco’s elite attended his large funeral.

Although Viggo de Bretteville liked to claim he was distantly related to French aristocracy, when his fifth of six children, Alma, was born in 1881 in the Sunset District, the family was anything but wealthy. Viggo had a distinct distaste for work, so his long-suffering wife Mathilde was the sole family breadwinner. By the time Mathilde managed to move the family to a downtown flat on Francisco Street that was converted into a combination Danish bakery, laundry service, and massage parlor, the 14-year-old Alma had dropped out of school to help, while attending the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art at night.

The six-foot-tall beauty was soon attracting attention as a nude model for artists (and for successfully suing the miner Charlie Anderson for “personal defloweration” in a breach of promise lawsuit that made local headlines). Most famously, Alma was hired by Robert Ingersoll Aitken to serve as the model for the “Goddess of Victory” statue atop a monument in Union Square honoring naval hero Admiral Dewey and the recently assassinated president William McKinley. Alma was specifically chosen by the wealthy committee chairman, Adolph Spreckels (head of the local Spreckles Sugar Company), who became smitten with her image. This man, 24 years older than Alma, courted her for five years before finally marrying her in 1908. (She famously said to have agreed to the marriage because, “I’d rather be an old man’s darling than a young man’s slave”). Alma went on to have three children with the man she called her “sugar daddy,” and, although much of the San Francisco elite initially turned their noses up at this bohemian woman, “the Great Grandmother of San Francisco” left quite a legacy; she donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (and her Rodin collection) to the city and with her next husband (the younger rancher Elmer Awl) worked to construct the San Francisco Maritime Museum. She died in 1968.

An explosion booms to life followed by the sounds of trumpets as the Wonder Woman theme song blares in the back of my head. I envision a montage of the actress’ greatest moments as the superheroine of the 1970s television series; it remains the only successful live-action portrayal of the almost 70-year-old comic book character. There’s Lynda/Wonder Woman deflecting bullets with her bracelets, lifting cars with one hand and doing that great choreographed spin change that a generation got vertigo trying to emulate.

“I guess I called a little early.”

Lynda Carter is probably really used to people “trekking out” (i.e. acting like a Trekkie meeting Shatner in your level of enthusiasm) over her iconic comic book role, but she has both a sense of humor and an appreciation of her fandom. In addition to the role that made her a household name, Carter is also known for post Wonder Woman roles in made-for-television films (her Rita Hayworth biopic is staggeringly glitzy) and a second career as a nightclub chanteuse, which is what brings her to San Francisco this week. Wednesday and Thursday evening, Carter will be singing some of her favorites at Yoshi’s San Francisco, backed by her “All Star Band” and of course, telling stories from her Wonder Woman days and beyond. We recently spoke to Carter about her favorite music, what makes San Francisco audiences so receptive and just what it’s like to see a 6’5″ black man impersonating you.

KQED Pop: Where are you currently living as a singer? I feel like you’re very hard to define as an artist, you draw from many genres.

Lynda Carter: People who come see me year after year say the same thing: they always get a different show. I never know where I’m living musically either. Half of every show is entirely new material. I don’t like to limit myself with themes; songs for me are about storytelling, which then influences the arrangement. I’m lucky to have my All-Star Band — there’s very low turnover, sweetheart. They’re all Hall of Fame musicians, Grammy winners. They’re the musicians from the documentary that just won the Oscar: 20 Feet From Stardom. Those are my girls! I’m also introducing a song I wrote for my son since last time; I wrote a song for my daughter. My husband, I’m sure, is next.

What are you listening to that might surprise us?

LC: Pharrell! I love him, I’m so glad for all his success. And Sara Bareilles. She’s a stylist with wildly amazing range. I listen to whatever is on my kids’ iPods too. I’m really a blues and jazz fan. There’s a lot of that in the show. I’ve always had a country flair to my voice too since I grew up in Arizona. My mother was a huge blues fan and that’s really important to me, but there’s also what the band brings.

You’ve come to San Francisco quite a few times over the last decade. Is there anything special about San Francisco audiences?

LC: I love them. They feel great, they swing along, they are very happy. I’m absolutely in love with these crowds. Living in San Francisco is like dating a supermodel. This is the city where gay people first knew freedom. All these mixes of ethnicities and this pioneering spirit really makes an audience special.

Have you ever had a female impersonator dressed as you in an audience here?

LC: Daaaarrrrrling…. All the time.

I felt like that might be a “duh” question. I asked Carol Channing and Robin Williams that too and got the same response.

LC: (Laughing) What a group! The best was in San Francisco: a beautiful, big, buff 6’5″ black man dressed as me. He looked great. In New York, there was a very chubby, very hairy man who was memorable, although it was not a close resemblance. I also loved this large blond who did Madonna cones out several feet in her costume. Hysterical. Great fun.

I’m curious to know if you’ve ever met any of your fellow superhero actors. Can I throw some names at you?

LC: Yes, darling.

The Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno

LC: Oh yes. I’ve seen him a lot over the years. He’s a great guy.

Onetime Batman Val Kilmer

LC: I’ve…met him. I don’t know him.

Catwoman Michelle Pfeiffer

LC: I’ve met her and she’s very sweet, very nice.

How about new Batman Ben Affleck?

LC: I did a movie with Ben! I love him. We did a little film called Daddy, where Ben played Dallas star Patrick Duffy’s son. We had a great time together and I adore him. I’m excited to see his Batman. I also knew the Superman, Chris Reeves. Very, very smart man. He was a truly great guy.

How do you feel about the continued iconography of your portrayal of Wonder Woman? Did you ever expect you would be so much a part of the cultural lexicon?

LC: I’m always blown away by younger people who recognize me as Wonder Woman. I feel like it’s a lot of parents sharing the character, which feels great. I love how it’s been embraced. Women get that the character is so much about the internal pieces. The actions she does happen to be natural outpourings of what she feels. She’s a character upset over inequality, over bullying, over basic good and evil. She’s very internally motivated always as a woman. It’s this idea of women for women but not against men.

For many of us, actor Jason Bateman will always be eternal nice guy Michael Bluth from the cult series Arrested Development. While the world (and the Bluth family) falls into chaos around him, there’s dependable Michael/Jason: hair as mop-topped as his child actor days on Silver Spoons, eyes as flirtatious as his teen idol period on The Hogan Family and the affable smile as fixed as the visages of Rushmore.

For his feature film directorial debut, Bateman went on a decidedly different route. Instead of floating on his likability, Bateman gives us Bad Words (opening Friday across the Bay Area), a dark comedy about Guy Trilby, a 40 year old man who finds a loophole to compete in the youth National Quill Spelling Bee. The potty mouthed, child-hating, misanthropic Trilby commits one reprehensible act after another in the film but the actor-director provides enough dark laughs that we want to see Trilby go from bad to worse.

KQED Pop spoke with Bateman about the film on a recent trip to San Francisco. From first time feature directing jitters to getting children to say horrible things to juggling an impressive cast of supporting actors, Bateman tells all. Just don’t ask what his favorite bad word is.

KQED Pop: Directing isn’t really a new chapter in your career; you once held the Directors Guild’s record for youngest director on a television series when you were 18.

Jason Bateman: I don’t know if that record still stands. When I directed The Hogan Family, the Guild called and said I beat Malcolm Jamal Warner by a few months and Spielberg by a couple more months. It was a treat to do it at the time. I’ve been looking at the director’s chair for a long time. I’ve been clocking it for a while and always wanted the opportunity to direct a film. It’s a more robust and involved process for a director than television. I look forward to directing more television, but I had my eye on this for a long time.

So much of the advertising for this film has been via social media, specifically the hashtag #badwords. Have you ever said a bad word over social media?

JB: The only social media I’m involved in is Twitter and that’s basically used for business stuff. I’m not really cursing on that. I find it hard to believe anyone would be interested in my daily gripes.

You’ve done several projects where you your character has a candid relationship with a kid. Are you particularly attracted to those kinds of projects and is there some kind of humor you like from those interactions?

JB: Now that you point it out, I guess you’re right. I don’t think I look for that; the notion of looking for particular projects gives actors a lot more credit then we deserve, most of us take what we can get. I think it’s coincidental I’ve done several projects with kids. Once I’m there, I think it’s an interesting relationship you can have with a kid if you treat them as equals on a certain level and interact with them as peers. It’s always interesting to have an older person and a younger person on a peer level. In this film, my character is not emotionally advanced so he considers himself on a equal playing field with the kids.

What were you looking for in the casting process for the film?

JB: I was looking for a common sensibility, a common sense of humor. There are many different kinds of comedic flavors: none better or worse than the others, they’re just different. I needed actors who could get laughs without winking, being broad or really even being funny. Because they’re raw and authentic, they’re funny. They take it seriously and that’s where the comedy comes from.

How do you think your experiences as a child actor helped you to approach the adult subject matter with the kids in the film?

JB: I do remember wanting to be treated like an adult as a kid actor. Unless I got nervous, then I wanted to be taken care of by an adult. I was always aware of that balance when I worked with the kids. When we have challenging material, you want to do the same thing; you want to down play it so the kid’s not scared, but, if they don’t understand something, you might not want to explain it to them. I didn’t ask how much they understood. Their moms are there; it’s not my job to educate that kid.

As a director acting in your own film, how do you check and balance your own performance?

JB: That’s the risk: you’ve eliminated those checks and balances for yourself. You have to be honest with yourself about whether you have a chance of hitting the target. I knew I had a good shot of hitting that quality of being unlikable yet likable. I tried out other actors for my part, but they said thanks but no thanks, then I had to play the character.

Was there anything you particularly didn’t like about the directing process on film?

JB: Absolutely nothing. It was the greatest experience, except for the birth of my children (I have to throw that in there) of my life. It was everything I wanted it to be.

Were there any filmmakers that were particularly influential to you as a first time director?

JB: David O. Russell, Spike Jonze and Paul Thomas Anderson make films that are very raw and mix drama and comedy fairly easily without giving the audience whiplash. Being John Malkovich was [a film] I kept coming back to. Even though it’s a comedy, at the end of the day these were fragile people going through this absurd experience.

Do you think your work on ensemble pieces like Arrested Development prepared you for juggling the rich cast of supporting characters in this movie?

JB: Yes, and I think playing team sports growing up helped too; it’s the same idea. Everyone has their job and the sum total creates one thing for the audience to enjoy. Everyone needs to stitch the same fabric. I like being part of that and it was a pleasure to manage that.

Is there one repeating question you’ve had in this junket process that you wish would go away?

JB: “What’s your favorite bad word?” I’ve generally just been saying I like them all, but I try not to abuse them. There’s a time and a place for everything.

2013 was a breakout year for Pop’s latest wild child Miley Cyrus, having shed her G-rated image for a new, more mature direction. Hardly a week went by without a controversy — butchering her hair, dropping Molly and marijuana references, twerking on live TV, NSFW fashion shoots — each one making plain that Miley is not your tween role model anymore. We may dismiss her viewer provocation, exploitation of sexuality, and self-destructive tendencies as headline-grabbing antics, but perhaps there’s more going on here. Similar tactics have been used by contemporary artist Marina Abramovic, the “grandmother of performance art.” Marina also had a stellar 2013, founding a performance art institute, starring in an opera about her death, writing James Franco’s biography, and most famously, inspiring Jay-Z’s recent video for “Picasso Baby.”

If your reaction is “Marina who?” then here’s a brief introduction. Marina Abramovic made a name for herself in the anarchic heyday of Performance Art in the 1970s as an ultra-serious zealot. Performances such as her seminal Rhythm series were notorious for the dangerous circumstances she devised, and her endurance of self-imposed penances. In her legendary work Rhythm 0(1974), Marina offered spectators the opportunity to pleasure or harm her naked body with a myriad of objects ranging from a feather to a loaded gun, which audience members proceeded to do. Fast forward to 2010: for The Artist is Present, a work staged at the MoMA in conjunction with a career survey and documented by HBO, Marina silently locked eyes, one at a time, with hundreds of thousands of spectators queued up over three months (736 hours total).

Marina is taking advantage of her fame while making a significant shift in her career with some high-profile celebrity collaborations. On the heels of her MoMA show, Marina has found her brand in demand by Lady Gaga, James Franco, and Jay-Z. For his “Picasso Baby” music video, Jay-Z reinterpreted Marina’s The Artist Is Present at Pace Gallery, featuring himself as the Artist, rapping and strutting, and casting Marina as one of many reveling VIP participants. “Picasso Baby” is subtitled “A Performance Art Video,” but is it performance art, a music video, a hybrid?

Caught off guard, viewers often don’t know what to make of these new hybrids. (Critic Jerry Saltz, who was in attendance, went in skeptical and left “elated”.) When artists long for celebrity fame and pop stars flaunt Art World cred, traditionally separate frameworks of interpretation break down and merge together. The Art World badge gives an aura of seriousness to celebrity bearers, but perhaps it’s not necessary anymore, if the boundary between the two worlds is so porous. Perhaps we can stretch out this broad hybridized pop/art framework a bit further, to reevaluate work lacking that aura of seriousness.

“Wrecking Ball”is the centerpiece of Miley’s campaign to reinvent herself. The video has been written off by some critics for its overt raunchiness, but let’s ignore that bias and consider the work from a different perspective. When compared to Marina’s Rhythm series (specifically Rhythm 0), some interesting parallels emerge.

The basic elements of “Wrecking Ball” — a nude female, some dangerous tools, and a set built for us to see destroyed — comprise a mise-en-scène reminiscent of Marina’s Rhythm series. The action takes place in a bare, minimalist cinder block room — a kind of “white cube” gallery space — decorated and atmospherically hardened by icons of hands-on demolition, a sledge hammer, a wrecking ball, and concrete detritus. Marina’s Rhythm series turned the gallery space into a variety of dangerous environments, experimenting with different kinds of threats: environmental (such as the burning star of Rhythm 5, inside of which Marina nearly asphyxiated); social (the audience of Rhythm 0); self-destructive (cutting herself with a knife in Rhythm 10). Rhythm 0 in particular is notable for its use of conventional tools appropriated as weapons.

Miley appears scantily dressed or completely nude in a variety of vignettes: getting friendly with a sledgehammer, bareback riding a wrecking ball, walking toward the viewer during the demolition, or writhing on the rubble. Performing nude is a familiar trope of Marina’s: a challenge to perceptions of vulnerability. That same purpose is narratively served for Miley. Her nudity is part of her power over us, to whom she was previously victim.

Through the sexual innuendo of her performance, Miley spins the tale of our breakup to us, with a gaze punctuated by tears. As the wrecking ball slams into cinder block, bringing down the walls, Miley walks toward us in a seductive confrontation. We wrecked her, and now she wrecks us. In Rhythm 0, Marina put everything on the line,revealing the mixture of fetish, misogyny, and appetite for violence in her audience. Some pleasuring did occur at the audience’s hands, but the part we remember and talk about is the loaded gun held to her head at the end. “Wrecking Ball” offers us the vicarious experience of Miley’s seduction, her revenge, and her self-destruction, while at the same time, we become Miley’s tormentor as she sings to us; Marina’s stripped-down relational aesthetics reverberating through the fourth wall. Miley put it all on the line for us, and we didn’t realize how far she would go, taking us down with her in a blaze of glory.

We may speculate that the full nudity was at director Terry Richardson’s behest, but Miley’s general objectification in “Wrecking Ball” seems like her decision, part of her new identity, and the key to realizing this is understanding that we sexualize her only when she says so. For her follow-up interview with Barbara Walters, Miley dressed in a loose-fitting outfit of long pants and a collared and fully-buttoned blouse. While fashionable, her unrevealing and non-sexual attire is her saying “no.” This also echos Rhythm 0; at the end of the performance, Marina rose and approached surrounding audience members, who scattered.

Is there a direct, causal connection between Marina Abramovic and “Wrecking Ball”? It’s doubtful. But Marina is treading deeper into Miley’s territory, contaminating pop culture, and any explication of current events should take her work into account. Issues of intent and originality are typical cannon fodder and a lazy critique; we fire the gun when we don’t like the work and holster it when we do.

RoseLee Goldberg, the foremost authority on performance art, points out that Marina “recognized that the only way that she could get people to fully experience her work was to make them stop in their tracks, and to be with her in real time, one hundred percent and without distraction.” If a top-tier contemporary artist requires such concessions from her audience, can’t we approach “Wrecking Ball” with the same seriousness? Let Miley take us, as she says, “into [our] imagination a little bit and see kind of what the video really means and the way it’s so vulnerable.”

]]>http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2014/02/05/miley-abramovic-the-artist-came-in-like-a-wrecking-ball/feed/0m&m_leatherm&m_cryingm&m_show3m&m_artistArmistead Maupin on Saying Goodbye to San Francisco and Tales of the Cityhttp://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2014/01/29/armistead-maupin-on-saying-goodbye-to-san-francisco-and-tales-of-the-city/
http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2014/01/29/armistead-maupin-on-saying-goodbye-to-san-francisco-and-tales-of-the-city/#commentsWed, 29 Jan 2014 14:30:14 +0000http://blogs.kqed.org/pop/?p=10814Photo: HarperCollins

There’s something melancholy yet appropriate about Armistead Maupin choosing to end his famed Tales of the City series at this particular point in the city’s history; the San Francisco of the nearly 40 years of the series (Tales first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 24, 1976) is changing rapidly and radically. In The Days of Anna Madrigal, characters we’ve known from the beginning (the titular Mrs. Madrigal and Michael “Mouse” Tolliver) and contemporary additions from more recent books (the very Michelle Tea spirited Shawna Hawkins and the second major trans character of the series Jake Greenleaf) all contemplate the changing character of the city, but these fleeting moments are the subtext rather than the focus of the ninth and final book. In a recent conversation at The Chapel with Andrew Sean Greer, Maupin said that it was important to him that he see the fates of his characters through, but he didn’t want a tidy conclusion that tied everything in a narrative bow. There would be no return to 28 Barbary Lane for a last goodbye.

The final book in the series is a prequel of sorts: a flashback structure takes readers back to Depression-era Winnemucca, home of the Blue Moon Lodge (a Nevada brothel that figured in More Tales of the City), its proprietress, Mother Mucca, and a teenage boy named Andy Ramsey. It’s no secret that Andy Ramsey grows up to become Anna Madrigal and it feels correct that, after focusing previous books in the final trilogy on pioneering every-gay Michael and grown-up girl next door Mary Ann Singleton, the series should end reflecting on the origins of the woman who made the characters a family back on Barbary Lane. At 92 years old, Mrs. Madrigal takes a Proustian and literal journey back to Nevada and her teenage years before she made the transition to Anna. As with Mrs. Madrigal, the focus of the final Tale is family, both biological and “logical” as Maupin and his characters like to say. KQED Pop spoke to the author about the journeys of his beloved characters, his reflections on 40 years of gay culture and whether or not San Francisco still feels like home after he and his partner Christopher Turner famously relocated to Santa Fe in 2012.

KQED Pop: Was there a real Mrs. Madrigal that made you want to tell the story of a transgender person in 1976?

Photo: Christopher Turner

Armistead Maupin: Most of her spirit was inspired by my English grandmother who was a suffragette and a reader of palms; a very fey, lovely, forgiving, passionate person. I knew of transgender people early in my career. I’d met one or two, and was fascinated by that journey and decided to use it. It was such an exotic idea in 1976 that the editors of the Chronicle told me I couldn’t reveal her secret in the first year or else we’d scare off the readers. It was considered far more scandalous than my gay characters. I suppose even today, especially today, the transgender community is starting to get the flack from the Christian right that gay people used to get.

Even within the gay community, there are issues of recognition for trans people.

AM: I don’t get that. I don’t understand how anyone who goes through the gay and lesbian experience can possibly not understand that other people have other issues and respect them. If we can accept ourselves, we must be able to accept everyone, and the transgender people are there at the edge of things being far braver than most gay people in the way they live their lives. They get it from everywhere and they challenge our entire assumptions about gender in a way that’s very useful to our society.

There was an emphasis in the story on Mrs. Madrigal’s philosophies on gender and integration of the masculine and the feminine. It’s very counter to the absolute gender roles still being pushed in other parts of the culture.

AM: I’m glad to know it. I’m also very proud of Jake Greenleaf as well and the degree to which his experience reflects that new acceptance, and my desire for further acceptance. I’ve had a number of writers tell me almost jokingly, “Oh, I can’t keep track of who is what” and I tell them, “All you have to remember is that they’re human beings and you’ll be just fine.”

The relationship between Jake and Mrs. Madrigal is tremendously moving: Jake’s interest in her not only as a friend but as a pioneering member of his community is one of the major threads of the novel.

AM: She’s a hero to him.

Absolutely. Now that you’re in a role as an elder leader of our community, do you find there’s a curiosity from younger generations wanting to know our cultural history?

AM: I do find that and I find people who aren’t afraid to ask. It’s very satisfying to have those kinds of cross-generational discussions. For one thing, the old folks feel we have something useful to impart and it’s comforting to have that connection with youth. That occurs in biological families in generations, but our job is to simulate that within the “logical communities,” as I call it, of queers.

Gay culture has shifted so much since 1976; we have a degree of acceptance now that might have seemed impossible at the start of Tales. Are there any major shifts in the gay experience itself that you think change the nature of the community?

AM: The degree to which young LGBT people have been freed of the “coming out” ritual is a wonderful thing to behold. Mostly, I’m just confused about technology these days. I think we’re using it in much the same way we used classifieds and cruising bars years ago. The aim is the same; the devices we use to get there are different. I don’t find anything to quibble with with the younger generation. Most of you seem to have much of the knowledge that we have with an additional layer of sophistication about how the world works.

Because this book is almost a prequel of sorts with the flashbacks to Anna’s childhood, did you find yourself going back to the original series for some of those little “Easter Egg” winks at past characters?

AM: That’s exactly what I did. I remembered a lot of them, but I went back to the first meeting on the park bench with Edgar and Anna [in the original Tales] and began to build from there. This is the first time I ever had done such a journey into the past. I’ve always worked in real time so it was enormously satisfying to write about a time I don’t remember. I relied rather heavily on the internet for what I didn’t know. I found out a lot by Googling “1930s whore house menu” to find out what services would be offered at the Blue Moon Lodge.

So much of the book is also set away from San Francisco. What inspired the journey outside the city, specifically the use of Winnemucca as Anna’s place of origin earlier in the series?

AM: I met a transgender woman who was actually from Winnemucca in the early 1970s. When I first arrived in San Francisco, I went to a party at California Hall that was a fundraiser for this person’s sex change. She had hired Sally Rand, the old fan dancer who was the sensation of Treasure Island, Sally was 70 that week, and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra was there (or what was left of it) and Kate, the hostess of the party, described it as the “ball to end all balls.”

Nice pun.

AM: I thought it was tremendously witty. She had grown up in a whorehouse in Winnemucca, Nevada, so I lifted that information in those early days when I was scrambling to get profiles on all those characters. Years later, I found a self-published memoir by Kate Marlow in which Winnemucca figured but didn’t feature as her birthplace. She may have been something of a fabulist, but the notion and the detail of a young transgender boy growing up in a brothel was fascinating to me. I hint early on when Wren is talking to Brian about it — “That’s probably not the worst place for a transgender boy to grow up” — and I think the story reflects that.

The Tales of the City cast with Armistead. Photo: PBS

Are there any further plans to adapt the books for screen or television?

AM: Olympia called me after she read this book and was very sweet. She asked if there were any plans to adapt it and I told her there were no plans at the moment. But wouldn’t it be wonderful? There are no definite plans, but the idea is very appealing to me. And certainly, I’d like to see Olympia return to that role. One of these days, if the series is ever revived and the whole thing has to be recast, I think it would be altogether appropriate for a transgender actress to play Anna. But as of now, that part belongs to her. She certainly did her homework. She hired a transgender consultant to talk to her for hours about her own experience to inhabit that character. That’s the job of an actor: plugging into a character’s heart.

Has your friend Laura Linney expressed a desire to return to the role of Mary Ann?

AM: It depends what book they’d be filming. There’s a twenty year gap between book six and seven. She would certainly be age appropriate. It all depends on if they pick it up or if they start the series over. Laura has always been utterly willing to return to the character.

Congratulations on being the namesake for Laura’s new son, Bennet Armistead.

AM: It’s certainly a great honor. I was just thrilled to death to hear about it. I knew Laura was pregnant for about four months because she Skyped me her tummy. We were all sitting around our computers and I said “I’m sorry you couldn’t come visit us in Santa Fe this fall” and she stood up and said, “Here’s the reason.” We all stood up and squealed as she did a happy dance with her belly. Her friends formed a very protective circle around her that allowed her to keep the secret from the tabloid press. When she called from the hospital to tell me she named the baby after me, I was getting my teeth cleaned and I made such a cry of joy the hygienists came running in to congratulate me. It’s one of the greatest honors I’ve ever been given. I told Laura I don’t think she could ever top asking me to be her date to the Academy Awards, but by God, she did it.

What has the fan reaction been to the book and the series ending?

AM: Judging by my Facebook page and places I’m looking online, it seems to be very good. People are saying, “I didn’t want it to end, but if you had to end it, this was perfect.”

It’s not a neat, perfect conclusion either. It’s “untidy,” as Anna says in the novel about life.

AM: Anna makes the point that we have to live every day as if “it” is going to happen, that way we can always rest assured that our love is fully expressed and that nothing has been left unsaid.

Can you talk about Burning Man’s role in this book?

AM: My husband talked me into going a few years ago and I realized it was a very fertile ground for fiction, especially my kind of fiction where coincidence plays such an important role. Anything can happen at Burning Man. You don’t have a cell phone so you immerse yourself in serendipity. I also knew my own resistance to going would be useful to sharing Michael’s attitude about attending. It’s mostly the rigors of the experience I was resisting — the dust and heat — but of course the reason you submit to all these things is you find yourself in this singular environment that never ceases to enchant you.

It’s been about two years since you and Christopher moved to Santa Fe. How do you find San Francisco on your return visits?

AM: I’m feeling the same things San Franciscans are feeling: the astonishment and mild horror over the high-rises going up along Market Street. For a number of years now, I felt it getting more crowded and oppressive in terms of the general hubbub of the city. My most treasured moments in the city are when I was young and lived on Russian and Telegraph Hill and walked everywhere and virtually lived in those garden byways without a car. Because both this novel and my life have suggested a move away from San Francisco, I have to be clear about the fact that I think a certain amount of acceptance about these things is necessary. Cities change, people change, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the urge of young people to move to San Francisco. What’s different now is some of them have a lot of money and can displace people who don’t. It’s very hard for artists to live in San Francisco anymore. Chris and I have had serious considerations about other places in the Bay Area, but Chris and I figured, if we were going to lose the San Francisco experience, we should try something else. Santa Fe always held an allure for us and we wanted to see how it felt. Having said that, this last visit to town made us really homesick. We’d like to find something affordable, a rental that would let us come back for some time.

We’d love to have you here more often.

AM: Simply, it’s my town and always will be. With so much of my life and my work being about San Francisco, I couldn’t escape it if I tried.

Pizza and music go together like parties and fun, so it’s no surprise that pizza-themed music has been snagging headlines as of late. Music blogs have been heating up all winter long with talk of new pizza projects from seasoned pros and musical novices alike. In mid-December, alt-rockers the Foo Fighters treated patrons of Moorpark, California’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Pizza to a two and a half hour set (their first gig since October 2012). With the Foos’ performance coming just days after the announcement of child-star turned joke-rocker Macaulay Culkin’s new pizza-centric musical project, we have to wonder if Mac inspired the Foos to hop on the pizza train.

Oh, you didn’t hear? Macaulay Culkin is back on the scene with a brand new pizza-themed Lou Reed/Velvet Underground cover band. That’s right; let that sink in. We can’t be sure if the plan for the band was hatched before or after the Velvet Underground’s iconic frontman, Lou Reed, passed away. But we can be sure that Mac is no stranger to mixing pizza with art…and let’s just assume that when Culkin emancipated himself from his money-hungry parents in 1996 at age 16, his diet consisted largely of pizza (this seems like a reasonable guess to me).

We can all imagine the scenario that inspired the pizza-themed Velvet Underground cover band: you’re sitting around with pals, late at night, when someone gets the brilliant idea to change all the lyrics to Lou Reed songs to be about pizza. “Ya know, like ‘Take a Bite of the Wild Slice!,'” some clever pal shouts. Somehow, the eruption of laughter turns into serious motivation. And the songs practically write themselves (because they have already been written)! Turning silly ideas into reality is what celebrities are great at, so Culkin and his cohorts headed to Mac’s house to record the creatively named Pizza Underground’s first demo. You can purchase this for as little as $1.

Pizza Underground, or “PU” as I call them, unleashed their cheesy tunes to a bar full of raucous Brooklynites, all hopped up on the free pizza and orange soda that circulated the room (you have the chance to relive this when they play San Francisco on March 5th). And of course they had fans at their first “show” (it was an 8-minute performance, where the band mimicked the Velvet Underground’s traditional black-on-black style). As the Daily Beast’sCaitlin Dickson put it, “what culturally-conscious Brooklyn 20 or 30-something wouldn’t stand outside in 35 degrees to catch a glimpse of Kevin McAllister singing pizza-themed adaptations of songs they’ve been listening to on Spotify ever since Lou Reed died?” By mid-December, it seemed like the Pizza Underground was on top of the world, but as it turns out, Mac’s not the first person to sing about pizza.

Example:

As word of Culkin and Co.’s “hilarious” pizza-punk concept made its way westward, pioneering pizza punx and Bay Area tough guys, Personal and the Pizzas, rolled up their sleeves and prepared for a fight. You see, Personal and the Pizzas have been serving up hot tracks dripping with delectable pizza puns since 2010 and haven’t received even a small slice of big attention for it. The main difference being that Personal and the Pizzas made up their songs all by themselves (which I guess makes them slightly harder to know than songs that have been circulating since the ’70s). Oh, and they aren’t famous child stars, which, at least in this scenario, seems to put them at a disadvantage.

eMusic reached out to the Bay Area bad boys for their reaction to Culkin’s wayfarer-wearing, wannabe beatnik band. Not surprisingly, Personal had some heated words for Culkin and his cronies:

“First we’re gonna kill em!

THEN! we’re gonna sue em!

DONT MESS WITH THE F**KIN’ PIZZAS, PR*CK.

I CAN REED MOTHERF**KER

I CAN REED.”

Kill first, sue later, got it. And Personal is right; he can Reed. I can Reed, too. We all can because Reed already Reed-ed before us. Still, threats of death and lawsuits and claims of unoriginality can’t keep the Party Monster down. PU marches on, releasing a new music video which features a Macaulay Culkin kazoo solo. Though the video has been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim from EMI, It looks like this little joke is far from over and thus the battle rages on for this most lovable pizza-centric band.

Call me a purist, but I like my pizza-punk fresh and local and my Lou Reed tunes performed by Lou Reed. For me, it’s a no-brainer, Personal and the Pizzas voted #1 in quality and schtick. Where do your pizza band loyalties lie?

Last week, action-movie star and ponytail advocate Steven Seagal announced his aspirations to run for Governor of Arizona. The 61-year old martial arts expert made the comments while promoting Steven Seagal — Lawman: Maricopa County, his reality show which is shot in Arizona and features Joe Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America.” Seagall is a member of Arpaio’s “posse”: a group of some 3,000 unpaid civilians who support the sheriff’s aggressive ideas for targeting undocumented immigrants throughout the state. It’s unclear as to whether or not Seagal’s announcement was an off-the-cuff comment, an attempt to promote a reality show, or serious business. In any event, one thing is clear: Steven Seagal cares about immigration…and karate.

But the action star isn’t the only unlikely celebrity to have thrown his hat in the political ring. Let’s take a look at a few other celebs who’ve attempted to cross-over their careers from the screen to the political arena.

Jesse “the Body” Ventura

Photo: Wikimedia CommonsAt first, we all naturally scoffed at the idea of a professional wrestler turned politico. Surely, his years in the ring, body-slamming his opponents and generating soap-opera level drama, would never transfer into politics. Just imagine our surprise when Jesse Ventura beat not one but two mainstream candidates in the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial race. The former wrestling pro ran for office as a member of the Reform Party and proudly served one term as Minnesota’s Governor.

Our neighbors to the south in Carmel, CA elected Dirty Harry mayor by a landslide victory! Actor/director/gun enthusiast Clint Eastwood received nearly three-quarters (72.5%, to be exact) of the total vote in the 1986 mayoral election. He held the office of mayor from 1986-1988. Unfortunately, he did not get rich from this venture. Turns out, being mayor of Carmel paid only $200 a month. Not shockingly, Clint opted not to run for a second term. Back to Hollywood, baby!

Any self-respecting Millennial will remember Sean Duffy from MTV’s 1997 season of The Real World: Boston (or at least his appearance on 2002’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge). He also totally married Rachel (you know, the one who loved Puck) from the original Real World: San Francisco. But did you know he also secured the office of District Attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin? Yup, he held the office from 2002 until 2010 at which point he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional district. It’s truly shocking to think that MTV reality show fame can be a stepping stone to political success.

Not too long after the beloved child star grew up, she became very active in California’s Republican Party. Undeterred by her unsuccessful first attempt to gain a seat in the House of Representatives in 1967, Temple went on to be appointed Representative to the 24th US General Assembly of the United Nations just two years later. She also served as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana in 1976 and U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989, tap-dancing and politicizing her way into their hearts.

Kal Penn puff-puff-passed his way into our hearts as the high-as-a-kite Kumar Patel in the enlightening 2004 feature, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. The filmed spawned a 2008 sequel, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, which was less enlightening. By 2009, Penn had given up acting in favor of politics. He joined the Obama administration in the White House Office of Public Engagement as Associate Director. He currently serves as a liaison with the Pacific-Islander and Asian-American communities. Remember, just say no to derailing film careers.

The 2003 California gubernatorial election saw no fewer than 135 eager candidates. Two of those candidates were allegedly running as a joke, a joke on whom we aren’t sure. Diff’rnt Strokes star Gary Coleman’s 2003 campaign was sponsored by our very own East Bay Express and was said to be a satirical comment on the recall election. While adult film star Mary Carey ran on an 11-point platform which included the promises of making lap-dances tax-deductible (good news for some SoMa lunchtime buffet goers), taxing breast augmentation, and a proposed “Porn for Pistols” exchange program. Coleman placed 8th overall while Carey came in 10th out of the 135 candidates, with the Terminator taking the title.

]]>http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2014/01/14/the-most-surprising-celebrity-politicians/feed/0Jesse_Ventura_on_a_FDA_posterPhoto: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesse_Ventura_on_a_FDA_poster.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>il_fullxfull_340760949Photo: <a href="http://theclinteastwoodarchive.blogspot.com/2010/03/clint-eastwood-mayor-of-carmel.html">The Clint Eastwood Archive</a>Sean_Duffy,_Official_Portrait,_112th_CongressPhoto: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sean_Duffy,_Official_Portrait,_112th_Congress.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>482px-Ambassador_to_Czechoslovakia_Shirley_Temple_19901025_cropPhoto: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambassador_to_Czechoslovakia_Shirley_Temple_19901025_crop.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>800px-USCPennPhoto: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCPenn.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>GaryColeman_May_2005Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GaryColeman_May_2005.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>401px-Mary_Carey_2011Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Carey_2011.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>The Only Golden Globes Moments Worth Talking Abouthttp://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2014/01/13/the-only-golden-globes-moments-worth-talking-about/
http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2014/01/13/the-only-golden-globes-moments-worth-talking-about/#commentsMon, 13 Jan 2014 18:30:47 +0000http://blogs.kqed.org/pop/?p=10540The smell of tanner and anti-anxiety medication in the air can only mean one thing; it’s award show season! Some people have church, some people have football; we have red carpets and acceptance speech mishaps. Last night’s Golden Globe Awards (the fun drunk cousin of the Oscars) was best summed up by co-host Tina Fey: it was “the beautiful mess we hoped it would be.” Fey and Amy Poehler (a winner herself last night for Parks and Recreation) were the buoyant and at times brilliant (see: Randy Fey) returning hosts that kept the Globes afloat. From an extremely over-eager maestro (almost no one finished their speech without the “get off the stage” string arrangement sounding like the buzz of a malaria-carrying tsetse fly in the ears of terrified celebrities) to winners that universally did not prepare speeches (is Hollywood suddenly so painfully humble that none of these people thought they could win?), it was an extremely mixed night. Here are some of our favorite moments from the 2014 Golden Globe Awards.

Amy and Tina’s Intro

Let’s be honest; ladies, you had me at “a very good evening to everyone here in the room and all the women and gay men watching at home.” That pretty much is every award show’s demographics. From Jean-Claude Van Damme references to Tina’s assessment that nominee Gravity was a film about “how George Clooney would rather float off into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age,” there was no sophomore slumping. After killing during the opening, Poehler and Fey seemingly disappeared for the duration of the show, popping up sporadically and then vanishing again to the show’s detriment. More hosting duties next year please; these ladies were too fleeting a treat.

First of all, I think it’s newsworthy to note that Matt Damon has gained a certain amount of Clooney-esque gravitas with the steely grey low-lights he’s currently sporting at the temples (my Will Hunting has become quite the distinguished gentleman). Second, he played off being “basically, a garbage man” with all the charm he lent to that speedo in Beneath the Candelabra. Excuse me, Behind the Candelabra (that’s almost worse).

And Elisabeth Moss was undoubtedly going for the “Fairuza Balk in The Craft” look. And pulling it off, while flipping off the mani cam on the red carpet!

Jacqueline Bisset’s Anna Nicole Moment

Now this is what the Golden Globes are all about: making women in beaded ball gowns hike all the way from the hotel lobby to get their awards! Seriously, Best Actress in a Miniseries or Drama Jacqueline Bisset was seated somewhere near the personal assistants of bigger stars table in outer Siberia. Bisset’s complete and utter blank at the podium can probably be attributed to her exhaustion once she reached the stage. Also, remember, they serve booze at this show!

“I’ve Got Nothing”

The looks on Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie’s faces when their teleprompter loaded the wrong information were priceless. You would have sworn they were facing a firing squad instead of a television screen with the wrong words on it. We think “Margot Robbie” will be a thing now because of this.

Don’t you just love it when you’re at an award show and the guy presenting the award is someone you partied with in St. Barts? Stars, they’re just like us.

Confidential to Bono

Couldn’t you take the sunglasses off inside? Also, of course U2 would write a song about Nelson Mandela; it makes so much sense. Also, it maybe looks a little lopsided that you wouldn’t kiss Diddy, but you full-on macked Amy Poehler upon her big win.

Melissa McCarthy Thinks She’s Matt Damon

It’s probably because of that new Clooney-esque gravitas I was mentioning.

And The Winner Is…Lorne Michaels

With SNL alumni Poehler and Fey hosting, Andy Samberg winning for Brooklyn 99, future Tonight Show and Late Night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers presenting, the Globes were really a testament to Michaels’ ability to pick talent.

Woody Allen Receives a Mixed Reaction

Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?

Diane Keaton was loopy and Annie Hall chic as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award on behalf of friend Woody Allen. Allen’s ex, Mia Farrow (the two separated after Allen had an affair with Farrow’s daughter Soon-yi Previn, to whom he is now married, amid other abuse allegations) tweeted that she was “going for ice cream and switching to Girls” before the award was presented. Farrow and Allen’s son Ronan Farrow was more explicit.

Clearly, Randy was the evening’s big winner. Amy Poehler is also first choice for new Justin Bieber biopic.

We Were Waiting for a Shia Joke

Jim Carrey’s quip about Shia LaBeouf’s plagiarism scandal(s) is the funniest he’s been in years. “Dying is easy, comedy is hard,” Carrey beamed to the crowd. “I believe it was Shia LaBeouf who said that. So young, so wise.”

Why wasn’t any winner prepared to make a speech this year when they got to the stage? Seriously, none of you thought you might possibly get an award tonight? I’ve been preparing an award show speech since I was six and carry it with me at all times just in case, but you professional actors who get nominated for awards didn’t think to do the same? Someone, take back their fame.

Is Herpes Ever Funny?

Kinda.

Seating and Music

With everyone seemingly having to hike great miles to get their awards and the music cutting every speech a third of the way through, let’s think about a change in the seating and music departments for next year, Hollywood Foreign Press.

Maybe Pope Francis is a case of the right man for the pop culture moment: his views on the global disparity of wealth and his much publicized humble lifestyle choices are sound-bytes tailor made for the times. He’s eco-friendly, low consumption, and about as unostentatious as a celebrity can get. He is the anti-Kardashian.

Perhaps some of this was predetermined by his global media debut. The conditions of Francis’s ascension to the seat in March had all the makings of a classic popera. A relative unknown on the international stage chosen to be the leader (and face) of an embattled church after his controversial predecessor’s sudden resignation (the first Papal resignation since 1415), Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s tale is at once Arthurian and that of the institutional underdog. It was the perfect introduction to the Holy See for a new media-consuming generation accustomed to reality competition narratives of stars plucked from obscurity. He’s even been attacked by Rush Limbaugh, a rite of passage for most pop culture icons.

My nine years of Catholic School (K-8) were during the Papacy of John Paul II. JPII was an enormously popular Pope during his reign and not just with the church ladies I knew that bought up commemorative plates, holy cards and even carpeted wall hanging during his visit to the Bay Area in 1987. Like Reagan, John Paul’s survival of an assassination attempt and role as a leader during the fall of the Soviet block elevated him to a kind of media iconography independent of his role as head of church. John Paul’s replacement, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, did not enjoy the same popularity with secular audiences. Revelations of long hidden abuses marred Benedict’s brand from the beginning (even among Catholics) and his media persona was the opposite of the openness and accessibility of a young John Paul II or Francis. In many ways, Francis is the first pope to access the tools of 21st century media to build relationships with both Catholic and non Catholic audiences. Here’s a look at some of the ways Francis has come to embody his branding as “The People’s Pope.”

The Papal Twitter

Peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity#prayforpeace

Francis’s predecessor may have been the first pope to send a tweet, but Francis has immediately adopted the tool as his own. @Pontifex has (of this writing) 3.3 million followers, recent tweets include the very secularly worded: “To live charitably means not looking out for our own interests, but carrying the burdens of the weakest and poorest among us” and “Too often we participate in the globalization of indifference. May we strive instead to live global solidarity” and “The “throw-away” culture produces many bitter fruits, from wasting food to isolating many elderly people.” Francis also set one very significant record this year with regards to technology: he participated in the first Papal selfie on record. Francis has also generated his share of memes.

Reportedly, tourism in Rome is up by nearly 7 percent this year with a nearly 20 percent increase in visitors from Latin America. Of the Latin American visitors, an estimated 66 percent are from Francis’s native Argentina. “We have seen a steady rise in tourism and it’s clear the election of Pope Francis is one of the main reasons,” Marta Leonori, Rome’s top tourism official said to the Washington Post. Pope Francis theme bus tours have also hit the streets of Buenos Aries, taking tourists around to the sites and same bus routes the former Cardinal observed in his everyday life only a few months ago.

Pope watches, Pope t-shirts, even Pope soap-on-a-rope were the hit of Francis’s March coronation. Merchandizing is nothing new to popes, as the carpeted JPII wall hanging and souvenirs going back to the Crusades prove. Francis icons, holy statues and items of kitsch will likely go into overdrive with his new media distinctions and with increased Papal visits around the globe.

Nelson Mandela, one of the only remaining real-life super heroes of freedom and equality, has died. He was 95. It might seem a bit strange to commemorate him here, in a pop culture blog, but even though Mandela was a politician, he was a figure who played in our collective imaginations. His quotes are the subject of many a gym room or art room or English room poster, and his book, Long Walk to Freedom, is required reading for anyone who believes individuals can change the world. Here in the U.S., he has always been the last surviving Man Who Changed The World, outliving Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and the Kennedy brothers. He’s the kind of guy we love to deify, and his story, of spending 27 years in prison and changing an unjust system of government from inside that prison, is rightfully a legend.

When I was an exchange student in South Africa, in 1999 and 2000, I remember being surprised at how the people I met didn’t talk about him like a god. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was a real man, a charismatic and effective leader but still a politician barely out of office when I got there. Everyone who talked to me about him, black people, white people and otherwise, had a complicated but terrestrial love for Mandela. He was the father of their country in a way, and everyone has a multifaceted relationship with their father, especially once they are old enough to recognize their father as another human, just like them.

All around the world, people will mourn Nelson Mandela, but we’ll all do it in a removed way, knowing that his work and courage and audacity will live on as long as humans do. But, in South Africa, the mourning will be more personal. They haven’t lost a god, which is something you can’t lose anyway, they’ve lost a family member. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela is often referred to as Madiba, so for all his family there, I’ll say rest in peace, Madiba. Thank you for changing the world.

It’s been over a year and half since the last Hunger Games movie was released. Since then, Jennifer Lawrence has waged war on our hearts, somehow convincing us all that she is our best friend. She also won an Oscar and fell down in the most charming way possible and did tons of other cute stuff. And now we get to watch her shoot arrows and stick it to the Man all over again. In a weird, slightly conspiratorial way, it’s like Jennifer Lawrence’s entire career and media presence has been a publicity tactic to make modern-day Americans feel like the citizens of Panem must have felt in between Katniss Everdeen’s first Hunger Games and her second. Like us, they were wowed by this refreshing person that came out of nowhere and allowed them to feel hope again (in their case, it was hope of revolution; for us, it’s hope that good things do happen to good people who just so happen to be just like us).

Conspiracy theories aside, it’s time to get ready for the return of the Hunger Games! Brush up on the basics with this piece:

The Hunger Games: A Guide to Your New ObsessionThe Hunger Games phenomenon is upon us. There’s nothing you can do about it. And you know how ye olde aphorism goes: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. About a week ago, that’s exactly what I did.

Or get in the mood by reliving some of Jennifer Lawrence’s most endearing moments, like when she moved a barricade to comfort a crying fan last week:

Or when Jack Nicholson crept up on her and she acted like anyone else would:

Or when she gave the most endearing interview with her parents backstage at the SAG Awards:

Or when she did all the things memorialized in this gif post:

Jennifer Lawrence Moments That Are Sure to Make You SmileWe’re so close to the release of Catching Fire, so we figure this is the prefect opportunity to remind you why Jennifer Lawrence is so great. We’ve already gone over the best moments of the Catching Fire press tour, but there has been so much awesome